A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term only dates from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From the mid-16th century nursery rhymes begin to be recorded in English plays, and most popular rhymes date from the 17th and 18th centuries.The first English collections, Tommy Thumb's Song Book and a sequel, Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, were published by Mary Cooper in 1744. Publisher John Newbery's stepson, Thomas Carnan, was the first to use the term Mother Goose for nursery rhymes when he published a compilation of English rhymes, Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle (London, 1780). Nursery Rhymes: Most nursery rhymes date from the 16th, most frequently, and, 17th, the 18th centuries. Apparently most were originally composed for adult entertainment. Many were popular ballads and songs. "The frog who'd a wooing go" first appeared in 1580 as A Moste Strange weddinge of the mowse as well as the ffrogge. Why do nursery rhymes reflect important historical facts? Most of these songs were part of an oral based society that relayed news, spread coded rumors about authority figures, and worked out its moral dilemmas (for kids and adults) in song and rhyme. What was the original nursery rhyme in history? Ten Oldest Nursery Rhymes in the English Language - Oldest.org 1. Ding Dong Bell. Ding Dong Bell is actually probably the oldest recorded nursery rhyme in the English language. In probably the earliest version of this rhyme, recorded in 1580 by John Lange, the organist of Winchester Cathedral, the unfortunate cat doesn't make it out of the well, and the bells are actually a death knell.